G'day guys.  While I'm waiting an hour for a service manual to download so I can get stuck into this wiring, I was wondering if there's a likely culprit in my electrical situation.

Last night I was riding home, flicked the lights to high beam on a dark street, and everything went completely dark.  I switched back to lows thinking I must just have lost high beam, and got only the dimmest light.  Then as I went to pull over, as I was now riding only by street light, the motor was spluttering, and it felt like it was only working it down through the gears keeping the motor turning, as if I'd hit the killswitch.  It would idle weakly on one cylinder if I pulled the clutch in, but there was just nothing there under throttle.  Once I came to a stop it croaked it's last, headlights off, turn signals off, idiot lights off, dashlights off and of course wouldnt turn over.

I checked under the gauges with a torch as best I could for any wire that was obviously touching where it shouldn't, or not touching where it should, same thing under the seat, although it's such a mess of electrical tape under there from previous dodgy repairs that I didn't know where to start.

And then few minutes later I turned the key one more time, all the lights came back on, I hit the starter and it fired right up, no worries.

Went to ride it this morning and it started up no dramas.   Then I got a couple of Ks down the road, filtered to the front at a traffic light and launched hard on the green, enjoying all the cagebound commuters dissapearing behind me.  My enjoyment was very short lived as the engine started coughing again within a block, I rode straight up the next available driveway and parked it on the footpath.  Once again, no electrics.  Flicked the key on and off a few times, nothing. 

I called work and let them know I was going to have to go home and get my car and would be probably a quarter hour late (thankfully I didn't get too far from home before it died), my boss had someone available who could cover my morning, and I took him up on the offer so I can go back and retrieve my bike.

I'm guessing that if I go back now, having cancelled my shift, it will magically start up.  I hope so, I don't feel like pushing it.

I'm guessing the ignition switch and the wires coming and going from that are probably the best place to start, but I bow to the collective wisdom of the forum if there's a known issue.  I haven't pulled the wiring out of a bike before, so I'm not quite sure what it all looks like in there, although I understand in principle how it has to work.

Is there a good connection to the battery? That's where I'd start and work backwards.

Mary

Possibly high beam shorted out and blew your fuse.
You were still running for a while probably due to the generator.
There should be a spare fuse. Right side next to the battery.

hi'' have you tried looking at the connection block on your relay I lost all power while going to work one morning and found that inside of the connector was corroded, after cleaning the 4 terminals power was restored. 

boggy 

Quote from: Cosimo_Zaretti on January 26, 2011, 02:55:11 PM
although it's such a mess of electrical tape under there from previous dodgy repairs that I didn't know where to start.

^I hear alarm bells ringing.....^

Seeing as it fired right up after the first problem, its probably not a short circuit, but a bad connection(not ruling out a short though!). If the dodgy repairs don't correspond to the wiring diagram its going to make diagnosis difficult, although seeing as you lost everything its likely to be a bad connection at the battery, the starter solenoid or wiring to/from the ignition switch. As the problen is intermittent its going to be harder to diagnose, but start by checking/cleaning those main connections and get back to us. Good luck!

I went back to where I left my bike, pulled the seat and sidecover off, turned the key to run and left an indicator on.  I followed the line from the positive terminal to a big metal can mounted on a block of rubber, which had a line going out of it into the starter motor.  It had a multipin connector on it which I pulled off, blew a bit of crap out of, then pushed back on firmly.

Voila, indicator starts flashing.  I hit the starter and it fired right up.

The wiring's not as bad as I thought, the previous owner was very keen on electrical taping all their connections, which made it look like an ugly mess in there, but when I peeled it all back it mostly appears to be factory.

It does look a little corroded in that connector, I'm going to clean that up or replace it I think.  Thanks for your help everyone.

The factory wiring harness isn't exactly the prettiest thing to start with.